Korea Investment CORP Takes $14.60 Million Position in VeriSign, Inc. $VRSN

Korea Investment CORP bought a new position in shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 58,017 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,595,000. Korea Investment CORP owned about 0.06% of VeriSign at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in shares of VeriSign during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in VeriSign during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in VeriSign by 429.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in VeriSign by 25.3% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 788.0% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 222 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 92.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

VeriSign Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VRSN opened at $281.80 on Monday. VeriSign, Inc. has a one year low of $208.86 and a one year high of $312.48. The firm has a market cap of $25.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.56 and a beta of 0.70. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $272.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $264.63.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $434.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.19 million. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 39.20% and a net margin of 49.76%.The company’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.21 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that VeriSign, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

VeriSign Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 19th. VeriSign’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, CEO D James Bidzos sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $297.47, for a total value of $981,651.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 439,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,690,172.33. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 36,500 shares of company stock worth $10,059,796 in the last three months. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VRSN. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of VeriSign in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on VeriSign from $308.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Wedbush boosted their price target on VeriSign from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Zacks Research raised VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $328.75.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN) is an internet infrastructure company that operates critical components of the global Domain Name System (DNS) and provides cybersecurity-related services. The company is best known as the authoritative registry operator for the .com and .net top-level domains, maintaining the central databases and zone files that enable domain name resolution for millions of websites. VeriSign’s registry role is performed under contractual agreements with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and involves high-availability, highly secure operations to support continuous internet connectivity.

In addition to its registry business, VeriSign offers a suite of services designed to protect and accelerate DNS and internet traffic for enterprises and service providers.